Per Norgard, Symphonies 2 & 6, Oslo Philharmonic, John Storgards

I am back with another volume in the Per Norgard series by John Storgards and the Oslo Philharmonic. This one covers Symphonies 2 & 6 (Da Capo 6.220645) and I am impressed once again with the performances. Last time I noticed the vertical qualities of the 5th and somewhat less so with the 4th. Here the 6th (1999) is about equally divided up between a temporal unfolding and singular events. The work has orchestrational depth, like an abstract painting with multiple layers and textures, it is a wealth of shades, colors and levels of grit. The work is subtitled "At the End of the Day" and you can feel the gradual shift into sunset and night if you use your imagination. It is a tour de force, certainly.

Symphony No. 2 (1970, rev. 1971) is a primary vehicle for Norgard's "infinity series," where high modernist concept meets a sort of naturalistic approach to change. It is one long processual unfolding and very effectively so. Indeed, a unison in the strings gradually gives way to a series of floating note cycles in the winds and then interacts with counter lines in the strings. Change feels like the evenemential patterns of clouds passing and morphing form on a moderately windy day. It is whatever you imagine it, of course, but it fascinates via its non-specific referentiality to itself and its ability to conjure images in the mind's eye.

Both of the symphonies are substantial, each "continents" in themselves, as the liners say.

Storgards and the Oslo musicians weave patterns that bring out the essence of the works. I am glad to have this recording and do hot hesitate to recommend it highly. Norgard is a symphonist for our times. The music speaks volumes.

Peter Maxwell Davies, Symphony No. 10, Andrzej Panufnik, Symphony No. 10, London Symphony Orchestra

A welcome disk is on the docket today: The London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Antonio Pappano performs Peter Maxwell Davis' Symphony No. 10 and Andrzej Panufnik's Symphony No. 10 (LSO 0767).

Maxwell Davies' 10th, subtitled "Alla ricerca di Borromini," was written between 2013-2014 and enjoys its world premiere recording here. Panufnik's 10th lasts some 15 minutes and was written in 1988, just three years before he passed. Both are late mature works and they show the respective composers at their best.

The 10th by Maxwell Davies is a considerable, ambitious work that includes the London Symphony Chorus under Simon Halsey and baritone Markus Butter as soloist. It centers around architect Francesco Borromini (1599-1667) and his life and work. Davies was diagnosed with cancer early in 2013 and subsequently the themes of creativity and mortality that characterize the symphony took on doubly increased personal significance as he doggedly continued work on it with unrelenting determination.

The symphony is in four movements, some with chorus and soloists, some purely orchestral, all concerned with Borromini's projects and the flow of his life. The music has a deeply somber, melancholy cast, movingly dramatic in a widely expanded-tonal modern way. The work culminates in the final movement, where Borromini's last will and testament written just hours after a suicide attempt colors the music and serves as its principal text. It has a moving finality to it that leaves one with a feeling of completion but then of absence as well. This is Maxwell Davies contemplating the biggest issues of existence in ways completely personal yet thoroughly transcendent. The closing moments are haunting.

This is music of grand design, muted, reflective, ritually transformative in its singular expressivity. It requires your concentrated attention but rewards with outstanding Maxwell Davies sublimity.

The Panufnik 10th was commissioned for Sir George Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. It too has a somber way about it, a succinctly dramatic presence. The orchestration at times is considerably brighter that Maxwell Davies' 10th, with an opening for amassed brass that has a severe, bracing quality. The music continues with heightened dissonances and beautifully muted contrasts with an almost chorale continuity that gets punctuated by meaningful percussion tatoos, like a funeral march perhaps. It makes beautiful use of the full resources of the orchestra with exceptional blends and urgent outbursts. It concludes in a quiet hush that is near breathtaking. For all its brevity it is nonetheless stunning Panufnik, one of his triumphs.

The performances are first-rate, the music significant and masterful, the mood sometimes stoic, resigned, somber but in the end cathartic. Very recommended!